Queen Mary aftermath pt 2: Saturday

Sorry about no update yesterday, I was a zombie that day.

Saturday we started the day off with a seminar on vintage fountain pens. I had some and learned quite a bit about their age (I have a beater from the 30s!). This is my friend Marci and me right before the talk.

After that the group decided to do some outdoors-ness and we went for a picnic.

Here we are in the large grass area adjacent to the ship. Our spread was quite generous, and I even made spiked lemonade. It was good, and gone in a flash! Someone even brought a beach chair. One member of our group decided to give the unfolding a go. His first attempt was not too good.

With one more swing of the legs, he got it working and soon others began sitting in it.

After some time, the gals and I decided that we wanted to go to the 'pile', so we did.

We spend hours digging in that thing. IT was worth it for the experience more than anything. We even got to the bottom, I felt concrete!

After the pile we went to a fellow Lounger's room and I did a sewing talk. Some of the ladies there already knew how to sew, and I went over some things for others and had a big show and tell. It was splendid!

That evening we had 20+ people for dinner, and I wore my evening gown and bolero that I made.

We went to the Observation Bar and saw a cool vintage band (brought in by the Lounge!) and headed by Jonathan Stout & the Campus Five. Some vintage dancers even came. It was nice seeing the regular crowd there enjoying the band as much as they did. They often clapped the loudest.

By midnight I was pooped and headed home.
It was a grand weekend and then there was SUNDAY!!

Queen Mary aftermath pt 1: Friday

Hi all, Im back from my super fun weekend excursion. Oh man did I need my rest today. Ive decided to brake the posts up onto 3 days, the Friday, Saturday, and Sunday events that happened on the Queen Mary Hotel in Long Beach Ca. Its an amazing docked deco boat filled with original vintage fixtures and ambiance. Its lovely.

The event is know as the Fedora Lounge Queen Mary event. Its been going on for 8 years now, and is mainly an annual get together of members of a vintage online forum (The Fedora Lounge) who share their collective know how about all things vintage.

Over the past few years, and with money being tight, the even has gotten smaller. This this year our max was about 20. But a small crowd is still a good crowd. Its people who want to be there, and its so much fun wearing all your cool vintage stuff.

We met on 4th street where the area has grown to have quite a few vintage shops. One store, which was closed, was where we were to meet. The store next to them was open. Both stores share the same back patio space, and we beheld the 'pile'. A giant mound of vintage clothing that was to be open tomorrow! Oh! We were too early!

Here I am on Friday after just getting to the ship. We walked around a bit and visited the Observation bar where I had a bit of food. Some other Loungers arrived, including one of the moderators and his two sons.

Isn't he the cutest!

Here are some pictures of the bar.

That evening was our formal dinner, and for it I wore my 30's suit made from my repro pattern. I was very pleased with how it turned out. It was a hit. I even made a beret and used some of my flowers in yellow to make it pop! Here are a couple of pictures of me on the ship, and more of the finished suit can be seen on NVL.



Tomorow, Saturday!

Catalog Sunday

This week more from Lane Bryant spring/summer 1932
If I could dress like this everyday I would!

30s Suit Progress 2

Here are some pics of the jacket and the front of the dress.

Things are going great, and all I have to sew by machine are the velvet cuffs of the jacket. All the rest will be done by hand. So I have a couple of hours of hand sewing left.

I really like the bound button hole. I had finally memorized how to do them! I even folded the velvet facing on the inside so that its exposed from the front closure. Just a little bit of coolness.

The only mistake I made was the sleeve. I cut it wrong but I added a small gusset and all was well.

So this evening will be hemming and the like. Ill also add shoulder pads to the dress.
All of this is getting ready for this Saturday and the vintage Queen Mary event. Im doing a talk on how to incorporate vintage techniques into your sewing. Ill also teach how to read unprinted patterns, and a couple of other things.

Its going to be fun, and Im going to look cool.

30s Suit Progress 1

The suit I mentioned making in this post is progressing nicely.

Again, in my attempt to make all of my repro patterns, Im embarking on the 30s suit pattern. Now the original marked itself as 'being cut for the short woman'. Im 5'7" with fairly even proportionally, and the length of the torso and sleeves and such fit perfectly fine.

Here is the jacket with the revers (which will be turquoise velvet if I have enough fabric).

I only do one sleeve on mock-ups to save fabric. Onda seemed to model it nicely.

The jacket fits well, bit I need to add a bit to the side around the hip so the seam lays straight. Its compensation for my bum, Im used to it.


Next was the bodice and half the skirt (to save fabric). I cut it a few inches past the fullest part of the hip so I could gauge fit. I also need to take in the side of the skirt for the same reason.

I also need to cut away some of the underarm of the blouse and compensate the sleeves for fit so the fit will be more pleasing.

Here is the jacket and the dress together.

Again, I thought Id have tons of problems, but this has been relatively straight forward. Next is to cut out the pieces and get them prepped. I might have most of it completed by tomorrow.

Meet my new friend, Onda.

I did it, I made a duct tape dress form. Thanks to a lot of help from my friend Jen, who now knows more of my wobbly bits than she ever wanted, I managed to finally get this done.

The whole thing cost 6 rolls of tape (two were used after the wrapping, and I still have one leftover), and two bags of packing peanuts. In sum a total of a few hours and $22. I put a hanger in the shoulders so I could hang the dress form up.

It was an interesting feeling as the tape built up, and me bending was out of the question.
After Onda was cut off me, I spent the next day stuffing her and shaping her a bit. I had to pinch the waist, because we had to wrap tons around the middle. I also padded the hips some. Shes really, really close to my measurements at 48, 39, 51. The upper bust is a bit larger on her than me (42" Im 41"). I may layer her with a few shirts to give her some padding so shes squishy.

The name Onda comes from a life size doll I had as a kid. She was like a life size Barbie, about 4' 8" tall, chocolate brown, and wearing a jean shorts set! My older cousin was so impressed by the name Onda. I forget why I called her that, but I feel its time to bring it back.

Its strange seeing my body size not in the mirror. Ive dressed her in a few of my shirts, and she looks cuter than me. But she is me, right? Creepy...